1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical signal processing techniques and, in particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk interference in an inline Fabry-Perot sensor array.
2. Description of the Background Art
Inline fiber optic sensor arrays based on partial reflectors such as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are simple and efficient since the reflectors can be written directly into the fiber and no other components are required. An inline sensor consists of two reflectors having a length of the fiber between the reflectors. In operation, the fiber changes through mechanical stress making the fiber sensitive to physical or chemical measurands. Such changes in the physical attributes of the fiber will alter the light propagation characteristics of the fiber.
Time division multiplexing (TDM) of the sensor array interrogation signals is achieved using a pulsed light source. The reflected pulses from the sensors are distributed in time since the sensors are spatially distributed along the array. It is required that the reflections from the different sensors are separable in the time domain to achieve an accurate reading of the light reflected from each sensor along the array.
To have all the sensors along one fiber is not a favorable configuration in terms of crosstalk. There will be pulses that are reflected three or an odd number of times (higher order reflections) that coincide with pulses reflected only once (first order reflection). In existing TDM sensor systems, the phases of the sensors are calculated assuming interference between first order reflections only. Thus, interference between a first order reflection and a higher order reflection will appear as crosstalk. High-resolution sensor systems typically require a crosstalk level less than −60 dB. In order to have a crosstalk level less than −60 dB, the reflectance of the reflectors must be less than 0.1%. With such a low level of reflectance, very little of the source power is utilized to provide a measurable signal. As such, crosstalk noise can substantially impact the detectability of the reflected signal.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus that reduces crosstalk interference in an inline Fabry-Perot sensor array.